Until Death Did Us Part
by Hikari Aiko
Summary: When one kills, they cannot be expected to get over it quickly, especially when they have never killed before.
1. Broken Headphones

**Hikari: Ohayo Minna-San!**

**Yoh: Hiya!**

**Hikari: This is my latest writing thingy story. And it's centered around Yoh!**

**Yoh: Cuz she loves me the most. Haha!**

**Ren: You're acting as stupid as Ainu-Baka.**

**Yoh: That's not nice.**

**Hikari: So yeah, to ignore them. I got this idea because I saw this picture and made a stupid mistake and then this story came out. I'm writing another kinda similar one, so yeah. I hope people enjoy this story.**

**Yoh And Ren: And Hikari Aiko owns none of us or Shaman King, or the picture that inspired her to write this story.**

**Until Death Did Us Part**

**Chapter One**

**Broken Headphones**

_Snap _came the sound of something cracking. Ren leaned against the door to try and figure out just what had been broken inside the other room. Of course, this was really a useless quest, seeing as it could have been anything.

Ren shook his head slowly and began to walk away from the room, until he heard the familiar low sniffling sound of his best friend. _What did he do now, _Ren thought as he turned back around to listen at the door once more. Maybe his friend would come out, maybe not. All Ren could do was stand there and wait for him to make some move.

See, Ren knew better than to go into the room. Either Anna would come up behind him and attack him, or, if he actually got into the room, something would immediately been thrown in his direction. He had tried this before, and had finally just given up. He was doing no help in provoking his friend.

"Still listening are we," Anna whispered as she came up beside the Tao.

"Yes," Ren replied in an equally quiet tone.

"Well," Anna started. "I suggest you stop. He'll come out when he's good and ready to."

"But he hasn't eaten in five days now," Ren protested, finally showing some of his pent up worry. But only to Anna, only to her, because they were so similar. They both knew how to look strong even when they did not feel it. And that gave Ren an intense respect for the Itako. And that respect led to him being able to openly show his emotions in front of her without worrying of the consequences.

"Stop groveling," Anna sighed, rolling her eyes. "It does you no good, and is not a very appealing look if someone else were to see you. Now, go to bed. You're even more irritable now because of your lack of sleep."

"You're the only one other than Jun who I'll listen to on your offer and ignore your insult," Ren growled slightly.

"Quiet," Anna hissed. "He can't know we're out here."

"Fine," Ren grumbled, he was fairly tired and to him, he felt like he was acting more like Horo than himself. Upon coming to this conclusion, he quickly went off to bed, no sense in acting any more like that Ainu Baka than he was already.

Anna watched his retreating form until she heard a door open and close, and then she finally turned away and went back to her own room. Another sleepless night was ahead of her, she knew that Ren was only the first of the mid-night visitors.

_A small nap never hurt anything, _Horo thought as he leaned against the wall. It was late, but he could not sleep, not after what he had been hearing in the night.

He knew he was the second visitor, and that Ren had been the first. He could hear him and Anna arguing quietly outside this very door. And now he was the second, and soon he knew he would have to go back to his own room and try to sleep. It would be just like all the other nights.

"Horo," Anna snapped in a quiet tone. "Back in bed, now."

"Anna, please," Horo tried.

"I'm not going to tell you again," Anna said, her anger rising despite her still quiet voice. Horo could tell that she had not slept these past five days, he could see it in her eyes, even if the light was dim.

"I just want to make sure he's alright," Horo tried once more.

"You are just as bad as the rest Horokeu," Anna sighed, leaning against the wall. "And you're going to drive me insane. I can't keep doing this every night. I can't keep making all of you go away. And leave him in peace."

"We're all just worried Anna," Horo said, noting that she had used his first name in her annoyance. "And we just want to see him. It's been five days since he even came out."

"And he won't come out with all of you standing around out here like idiots," Anna said, trying to keep her cool. The lack of sleep was really affecting everyone's personalities, more so Anna and Ren than all the others.

"You should go to sleep too then," Horo suggested.

"More are still going to come," Anna sighed, bringing her hand up to lightly touch her forehead. "And I have to stop them from disturbing him. He needs this time to be alone. Now, _please _go to sleep Horokeu."

Horo gave a small nod and walked off in the direction of the room he shared with his sister. Anna had used his first name and said please, she really did need sleep.

Horo arrived at the door to his room and slid it open. Pirika was waiting patiently on her futon for his return. He nodded slowly to her, like he had the other nights and climbed into his futon. Time for another sleepless night to surround him. At least he had his sister to keep him comapny.

_Maybe tonight, _thought Manta as he tip-toed up to his friend's room. He could hear sounds like stifled sobs on the other side. And in truth, it made his very being ache, he had been so good to him, so kind. To hear his friend so hurt like this, it made him want to cry right along with him.

"Maybe after this I can try for some sleep," Anna sighed, coming up beside the short blonde and waking him from his deep contemplation. "You know you're the third one tonight?"

"I could hear the other two," Manta confessed. "Ren was first and then Horo."

"Correct," Anna said wearily. She had developed a liking for the short blonde, so she sank down next to him, not caring about showing her exhaustion. It was too hard to hide now anyways, so she might as well show it to someone who would care.

"You should go to bed," Manta said, standing up so he could face Anna eye-to-eye. "You look exhausted.

"I am," Anna said with annoyance laced in her tone. "But as long as all of you keep coming out here, I can't sleep. I have to send all of you back."

"As long as we're quiet we do no harm," Manta protested almost silently to try and prove his point.

"If he comes out and sees all of you waiting around, he'll go right back inside, I know it," Anna stated.

"We'll never really know until he comes out," Manta said, happy at his clever idea.

"Manta," Anna sighed. "I'm not going to argue this out. Everyone is tired and cranky here and I'll admit that I am too, and your coming to stand outside his door in the middle of the night really isn't helping matters. Now, please go to sleep."

"Anna," Manta whispered almost too low to hear. If Anna was even acting this polite, it was scary, but right now, Manta knew that she meant it. He nodded to her and without another word trudged down the hall to his room, trying to be quiet at the same time.

Anna sighed and went back to her room. She hoped that Manta would be the last one tonight, a little sleep would really be nice. It would really help right now, and it would definitely help her get through tomorrow.

**Please Read And Review!!!!**


	2. Dull Black

**Hikari: I'm really bad at updating. So sorry if anyone was waiting for this. It didn't seem that popular so I wasn't really inspired to update, but I think this chapter is more interesting! Enjoy!**

**Until Death Did Us Part**

**Chapter Two**

**Dull Black**

"Did he come out," Pirika asked Manta the next morning, her eyes wide. In her sleeplessness, she heard Manta outside his room, and she also heard no one else come after him. If he had come out, Manta would have seen him.

"Sorry Pirika," Manta apologized sincerely. He wanted his friend to come out too, but he was beginning to think that it would never happen. This was the morning of the seventh day, and hope was certainly growing thin by now.

"Maybe later today," Pirika said with a sort of fake-hope in her eyes.

"Maybe," Manta mumbled, then in a voice too soft for Pirika to hear, "Hopefully."

"Everything will work out, that's what he always said," Lyzerg spoke up. "And now's definitely the time to start believing in that phrase."

"Maybe if all of us believe hard enough it will actually happen," Pirika tried. She wanted to badly to cheer everyone up, and it was beginning to show just how desperate she was by some of the things she said.

"Just keep offering him your support," Jun said as she came into the kitchen. "That's really all we can do for now, at least until we actually see him again."

"I guess you're right," Manta sighed.

Everyone simply ate in silence after that, after-all, what was there to really talk about anymore, now that he was never around.

sksksksk

The door opened a small crack, enough to let in only a band of sunlight, but even that blinding the unusually pale boy. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the bright light, and then let his dull black eyes search the hallway before him. No one in sight.

He gently opened the door a little more and stepped out of the room. His brown hair cast shadows across his face since it was not held back by his usual orange headphones, seeing as he had broken them the night before. He would have to get a new pair, maybe.

The boy silently walked down the hallway, and looked into an empty sitting room stacked high with books. He went over to the pile and sunk down on his knees to find what he was looking for.

"Yoh," came an unsure voice after some minutes of fruitless searching.

The brunette instantly turned his head to see the person whom had questioned him. He looked the boy up and down, purple hair, golden eyes, Chinese clothes, it had to be Tao Ren. But then Yoh looked behind him and saw another boy. This one had blue hair and was in what looked like heavy summer clothes, Horo.

The sight of his two friends made his eyes go wide and tears begin to collect at the edges. They had seen him, they had seen his pitiful state.

Horo made a move to get past Ren, but he held out his arm and kept the older boy back while he spoke, "Nice to see you again Yoh. Are you any better?"

Yoh looked up at them with questioning dull black eyes as they appeared to survey him. He had no idea how to respond, or even if he could since it had been a week since he had last spoken to anyone, aside from yelling get out. Now they acted like nothing had happened, how was he supposed to respond to that.

"You okay," Horo tried, making to go to his distressed friend on the floor. But again Ren held him back.

"Stop Horo," Ren hissed in his ear, quietly enough so that Yoh could not hear them.

Horo glared in return, but made no move to get to Yoh again. They would just have to wait for him to respond.

Yoh looked up at them for a few more minutes without responding, until he finally let his head drop and he began his searching once more. Ren and Horo just stood there, what could he possibly be looking for in here.

The piles were fairly big, but from where Yoh was now, it looked like he had gotten through quite a few of them. He was now in the middle and still going. Whatever he was trying to find was still hidden within the stacks of old books.

Minutes passed by slowly as Yoh went on, trying to ignore the two boys looking at him, watching him. And worst of all, he still had not found it, the only thing that would ever remind him of his brother, the one he so ruthlessly killed.

Ren and Horo were both growing tired of watching the sight, but they wanted to wait, they wanted to know what Yoh was trying to find in the growing mess. So they both sighed in defeat and watched in silence as Yoh worked.

Ten minutes later was when Yoh finally held something up. It looked like a tattered album of some sort, and the other two boys could have sworn they saw a hint of a smile on Yoh face as he brought it to his chest.

He stayed like that for a moment and the other two were sure he had forgotten about them even being here, seeing as he was hugging the book. He looked utterly happy for the first time in a week, and for that the other two were extremely grateful.

Yoh slowly stood up, the book still clutched tightly in his hands and he started forward with unsteady steps towards the doorway in which Ren and Horo still had not left. Of course, he never made it to the doorway, instead he tripped over a small pile of book and fell down flat on his face, the book flying out of his hands.

It slowly stopped at Horo and Ren's feet open to the middle. The pages were tattered and the pictures were faded, but the two could still make out the few pictures in the book. They were of either Yoh or Hao, or sometimes even both of them. Ren was about to bend over to look at the strange album further, when he noticed the look in Yoh's eyes.

They were large and watery, but not in the adorable sort of way he would sometimes use as a joke. He looked on the verge of tears, and Ren would not stand that. So, instead of going towards the album, he bent down to Yoh's level, along with Horo, and let Yoh come very close to the two of them, burying his head in their chests.

Ren and Horo were both sympathetic, although Ren would never admit he had done this. They both could understand why Yoh felt like this, he had killed his own twin brother, the very brother his soul had split from, of course he was going to be upset.

Yoh just stayed in the comfort of his friend's arms, not caring that he was now sobbing. Why did he always have to make a fool of himself, why did he always have to be the one to fight? Why could he never be the weak one who watched from the sidelines? Why was he even born?

The last question he could answer, he was born to destroy Hao and make it so he could never come back. But why did it have to be him? There must be others who would be just as capable, and would be strong enough to do it. He was not the strongest shaman out there, he just got lucky when he fought Hao.

"Yoh," Ren ventured to say after a few minutes of silent sobbing.

Yoh looked up with the same dull black eyes at his two friends and blushed out of shame for what he had been doing, crying like a child who did not get his way. That was no way for Yoh to behave, he was a teenager now, he should be able to face this sort of thing.

"Sorry," Yoh mumbled, making to stand up and leave. But Horo and Ren both grabbed him before he could go anywhere and pulled him back down. Yoh just looked at them in confusion and shame.

"We're glad you're doing well enough to leave your room," Horo smiled kindly.

"Yeah," Ren muttered, this was too much emotion for him. "What Ainu Baka said."

"Who are you calling Baka," Horo said indignantly. And with that, him and Ren went as it as they always seemed to.

Yoh tried to smile a little, it was fun to watch them fight, after-all, but he simply could not make the muscles work. So instead, he quickly gathered the book in his arms and hurried out of the room, stumbling slightly on the way.

"Well, at least he came out," Ren sighed, tired already. Usually, fighting with Horo was relaxing and regenerating, seeing as the fight really did not take any energy and Ren suspected Horo felt the same. But this time, it made Ren feel even more tired, maybe because the fighting was so superficial, and he had no feeling behind what he said. Horo was his friend, and he only called Horo that as a joke and they both knew it, but this time, it was just different, tiring.

"Maybe he'll eat something now," Horo said optimistically.

"We can only hope," Ren sighed. Then he got up off the floor and went out the door without another word. Horo just looked after him as he walked down the hall. But then, he noticed one of the pictures had fallen out of the photo album Yoh had come in to get.

It was a small picture with both Yoh and Hao in it. Yoh looked to be about seven of eight, and they were both holding ice cream cones. Yoh was smiling as he always used to, and it looked like Hao was smiling a bit too, and they looked happy. Horo cocked his head to one side slightly, why would Yoh have these pictures? He never knew about Hao until just this year.

**Hikari: Read And Review Minna-San!!!!**


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